The Fox And The Hound heralded a changing of the guard at Disney
Disney is reissuing The Fox And The Hound in a digitally remastered 25th anniversary edition on February 26th and, while it may not be the most famous of the Disney back catalogue, it deserves attention as it marked a changing of the guard from the older animators to the new.
Production on the film about a fox’s friendship with a foxhound originally began in 1977, with veteran animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Cliff Nordberg – who had been responsible for animation on a raft of classics including Lady And The Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella – working on early scenes and character development with the younger animators who had begun to shine on that year’s cartoon hit, The Rescuers.
But the mouse house was shaken when three of the most celebrated of their rising stars – Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy – quit the corporation. They felt the animation standards and respect for animators at Disney had dipped and opted to go it alone, founding new company Aurora and going on to make animated features of their only, including what is still probably their best film, The Rats Of NIMH. As Don Bluth has put it: “The bubble burst.” Their exit was swiftly followed by almost a dozen more animators, which left Disney with a gaping hole in its animation department, which took some time to fill.
So it was back to the drawing board with the tale of fox cub Tod and his doggie pal Copper. They say life imitates art and this may be a case in point, since one of the key plotlines of The Fox And The Hound is Copper’s relationship with an older, though not necessarily wiser dog, Chief, who gradually sees the young hound take the spot of top dog.
One of the younger animators who came on board with the old ‘Chiefs’ for the film was Glen Keane - who went on to be a supervising animator on the later Disney ‘golden age’, which included Beauty And The Beast and The Little Mermaid. He recalls he was “quaking in his boots” at the thought of working with such established names as Thomas and Johnston.
Keane is, in fact, responsible for one of the best segments of The Fox And The Hound – a confrontation with a bear, which is both menacing and technically accomplished heralding his emergence as a new talent to be reckoned with.
While The Fox And The Hounds isn’t quite in the same league as the classics which came before and after it, it is still a significant and enjoyable piece of work, which anticipates films to come as well as echoing those which it followed.
The Fox And The Hound and The Fox And The Hound 2 are out to own on February 26.
